GUATEMALA CITY (Associated Press) -- Mayan priests will purify a
sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after
President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the
group said Thursday.
"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant
brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is
going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan
people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan
nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and
political leaders, said Thursday.
Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover
beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is
scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high
western plateau in a region of the Central American country
populated mostly by Mayans.
Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it
would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits"
after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He
also said the rites _ which entail chanting and burning incense,
herbs and candles _ would prepare the site for the third summit of
Latin American Indians March 26-30.
Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin
America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours
before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on
Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and
small homemade explosives.
The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the
United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising
influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has
called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."
Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was
founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the
Spanish conquest in 1524.
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